Cyclometer.



no. 634,6"). Patented Oct. I0, I899. a. T. BROWN.

CYCLOMETER.

(Application filed Jan. 24, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

No. 634,610. Patented Out. If], I899.

. a. T. snowu.

CYGLOMETER.

(Application filed Jan. 24, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

UNITED I STATES PATENT Fries.

GEORGE T. BROWVN, OF FREELAND, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'lO THOMAS BROVN, OF SAME PLACE.

CYCLOMETER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,610, dated October 10, 1899. Application filed January 24, 1898. erial N0. 667,75 7. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Freeland, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Oyclometer, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a cyclometer attachment for vehicles, and particularly for conveyances, such as carriages and wagons; and the object in view is to provide means for applying a cyclometer to a vehicle in such a position as to be protected from contact with contiguous objects and to receive motion from the rotation of the wheel without necessitating the provision of standards or similar devices for supporting the cyclometer to arrange its operating or star wheel in a position to be engaged by the wheel-spokes,

and particularly to provide a cyclometer attachment of such a construction as to be unaffected by the backward rotation of the wheel, whereby the registration of forward rotations may not be altered by the subsequent backward rotation of the wheel by which the cyclometer is operated.

A device of the class to which my invention belongs is particularly applicable to vehicles supplied by livery-stables, &c., and hence should be so constructed as to accurately register the distance traveled by a hired vehicle and at the same time prevent customers from fixing the register or turning the same back to mislead the dealer, and in order 5 to accomplish this I have adopted a clutch connection between the operating or star wheel and the cyclometer-spindle whereby only during the forward rotation of the wheel of the vehicle is motion communicated to the 0 registering or tally mechanism.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended 4.5 claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cyclometer attachment constructed in accordance with my invention applied in the operative position to a vehicle-wheel.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail view in perspective of the nut and the seat for the cyclometer-casing. Fig. is a detail transverse section in the plane of one of the clutch members on line 4 4c of Fig. 2 to show the means for preventing backward 5 5 rotation of the cyclometer-spindle. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and S are detail views, respectively, of the cyclometer and operating clutch members, the tension-adjusting nut, and the starwheel-operating stud detached. Fig. 9 is a detail view of the star-wheel. Fig. 10 is a View of a portion of the nut and cyclometerseat, showing the method of permanently securing the cyclometer-casing in engagement therewith. Fig. 11 is a side viewof the same.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

l designates a vehicle-wheel nut which in essential features is identical with those now in common use, but which at its outer flat surface is constructed to form a seat fora cycloineter-casing 2, (the construction of the interior mechanism of the cyclometer forming no part of my invention, and hence not being illustrated in detail in the drawings.) Said cyclometer-casin g seat is of cross-sectionally-dovetailed shape, and consists of parallel oppositely-disposed flat ribs 3, which are undercut attheir inner edges to receive the bev- 8o eled edges at of the base 5, with which the cyclometer-casing is provided. A. fixed stop 6 is arranged between the strips or guides 3 in the path of the cyclometer-base to prevent displacement in one direction, and the opposite ends of the guides or strips are spaced from the surface of the nut sufficiently to receive the reduced extremities of a securingbar 7, which may be held in place by means of securing devices, such as screws 8, to lock 0 the cyclometer-base from displacement in the opposite direction. In the construction illustrated in Fig. 10 the securing-bar 7 is omitted, and said spaced extremities of the guides or strips 3 are bent or deflected downwardly to 5 close the undercut ways or grooves in the illner edges of the strips after the cyclometerbase has been inserted. This forms a permanent means of securing the cyclometerbase in its seat.

9 represents a cyclometer-spindle extended to form a clutch member 10, of which the face is adapted to interlock with the corresponding face of an operating clutch member 11, mounted for rotary and reciprocal movement in a guide-tube 12. This guide-tube, which is slightly enlarged contiguous to the plane of the head of the cyclometer-casin g, is threaded upon a boss or shoulder 13 on said casing, and carried by the guide-tube, contiguous to the plane of the casing-head, is a stop or check-pawl 14 for engagement with radial projections or teeth 15 on the periphery of the clutch member 10 to prevent backward rotation of said clutch member, and hence of the cyclometer-spindle,while permitting free forward rotation thereof to actuate the registering mechanism of the device.

Threaded in the outer or remote extremity of the guide 12 is a nut 16, adapted to perform the function of an adjusting device for the actuating spring 17 of the operating clutch member 11, said spring being coiled upon the stem 18 of said operating clutch memberand bearing terminally, respectively, against the outer side of the clutch member 11 and the inner side of the adjusting-nut 16. Said spindle also carries an operating or star wheel 19, of which the radial slightly-curved arms are arranged in the path-of an operating pin or stud 20, secured to the hub 21 of the wheel with which the cyclometer attachment cooperates and proj ectin gin wardlyfrom the wall of said hub by which the cyclometer attachment is encircled. This operating pin or stud is preferably provided with a shoulder 22 to bear against the inner surface of the wall of the hub and a stem to extend through a radial perforation of said wall and adapted to be swaged on the outer surface thereof.

The operating pin or stud 20 projects inwardly from the wall of the hub and comes in contact at each revolution of the wheelhub with one of the foiwvardly-concaved arms of the star-wheel 19, thus imparting a partial rotary movement to said star-wheel, and thus through the spindle 18 and interlocked clutch members 10 and 11 to the spindle of the cyclometer, whereas the rotation of the wheelhub in the opposite direction, while actuating the star-wheel as above described, simply causes the reciprocable clutch member 11 to slide loosely over the cyclometer clutch member 10 without communicating rotary motion thereto.

Also from the above description it will be obvious that inasmuch as the entire cyelometer mechanism, with its cooperating parts, (with the exception of the operating pin or stud 20,) is carried by the axle-nut 1 it is adapted to be removed therewith when the vehicle-wheel is to be displaced, but is not only firmly and efficiently retained in place when the nut is in its operative position, but by reason of the nut being arrangedin a cap or flange at the outer end of the hub is ineloscd and protected by the hub, and hence is held out of contact with passing objects or with stationary objects passed by the vehicle.

A further advantage of the construction described is that it may be manufactured at a small cost and applied to a vehicle without changing the construction of the latter, except in so far as the attachment of the operating pin or stud 20 is concerned, a nut such as that described having the cyclometer-casing seat being simply substituted for the ordinary n utwith which the vehicle is provided. In practice I prefer to employ the cyclometer known as the Veeder, from the fact that it is of small and compact construction, and while some modification as to the number of teeth with which the registering-disks are pro- -vided may be necessary in order to suit the larger diameter of vehicle-wheels over those usually employed on bicycles I have found the above-named cyclometer to be efficient for the purpose described. It will be understood, however, that I do not limit myself to the use of any particular construction of cyclometer, as this is a feature which may be varied without affecting the essential features of the construction specifically described, and it will be understood, moreover, that various other changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The combination with a cyclometer, and means for mounting the same upon a vehiclewheel nut, of cyclomefer-operating devices including a pin or stud carried by the hub of a vehicle-wheel, substantially as specified.

2.- The combination with a cyclometer, of a vehicle-wheel nut having a seat in which the cyclometer-casing is fitted, and operating devices including a pin carried by the vehiclewheel hub, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with a cyclometer, and means for seating the same upon a vehiclewheel nut, of operating devices including a star-wheel, and a clutch connection between the star-wheel and the spindle of the cyclometer, substantially as specified.

at. The combination with a cyclometer, and means for securin g the same to a vehiclc-whcel nut, of operating devices including a starwhecl, a clutch having members connected respectively with the cyclomcter-spindlo and the spindle of the star-wheel, and means for preventing backward rotation of the cyclometer-spindle, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with a cyclometer-casing, having a cross-sectionally-dovetailed base, of an axle-nut provided at its outer side with a transverse cross-sectionally-dovetailcd seat for the reception of the base of the cyclometer-casing, and means for locking said base against sliding movement in the seat, substantially as specified. I 6. The combination with a cyclometer, of

IIO

at the outer end of said hub, of a oyclometer having its casing seated upon said axle-nut and provided with an operating-wheel, and a shouldered operating-pin engaged with a perforation in the band of the vehicle-hub, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE T. BROWN.

W'itnesses:

WILLIAM BIRKBEOK, NIXON MALEY. 

